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The Department is housed in the Henry Hinds Laboratory for the Geophysical Sciences, which includes general research laboratory space, machine and wood shops, classrooms and offices for faculty, students, and staff.

In addition to standard laboratory equipment for rock, fossil and thin section preparation and transmitted and reflected light microscopy, specialized equipment includes: X-ray powder and single-crystal diffractometers for mineral identification and crystallography, a scanning electron microscope and image analysis system, electron and ion microprobes for chemical and isotopic analysis of mineral grans, gas-source and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers for isotopic and trace element analysis of rocks, vacuum and resistance furnaces, gas mixing and piston cylinger apparatus, diamond anvil cells for high-temperature, high pressure experiments in mineralogy petrology and geophysics, a glaciology observatory, a wave tank for sediment transport studies, and field vehicles.

The Dave Fultz Memorial Laboratory for Hydrodynamics is dedicated to the memories of the late Professor Dave Fultz, who pioneered many revealing fluid experiments concerning the atmospheres and oceans of rotating planets. The laboratory is being used primarily for instructional purposes for graduate and undergraduate courses.